Amplified Voices

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. In this episode of Amplified Voices , Amber and Jason follow up with Juanita and Sincere following Sincere’s release from prison. Sincere went to prison as a young man and has grown up behind bars, spending 24 years incarcerated in Virginia. In this episode, we get to hear directly from Sincere about the circumstances...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. In this episode, Amplified Voices goes global with Jason and Amber's first international guest, Richard Kemick from Canada. During the podcast, Richard shares his experience interacting with his cousin, Christian who is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in a Michigan prison. As they develo...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. In this episode of Amplified Voices , Amber and Jason speak with Melissa Tanis, a ferocious advocate for parole justice, compassionate release, and children of incarcerated parents. Melissa shares her story of having her father incarcerated when she was five years old and the impact that it had on her own life as well...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. Ray Boyd was incarcerated in 1992, facing a 50 year sentence. He ultimately spent close to 30 years in prison in Connecticut before being released.  Ray experienced Covid 19 while incarcerated and reentry during the pandemic.  Ray shares his story with Amber and Jason . Ray, Amber, and Jason are joined by Barbara Fair...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. In the opening episode of Season 3, Amber and Jason speak with Nicole, a sixteen-year-old girl who authentically shares the experience of having her life turned upside-down at age twelve when her father was arrested, incarcerated and eventually placed on a public registry. Her journey winds from the initial shock, how...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. As the year came to a close, Amplified Voices hosts, Jason and Amber took some time to reflect on everything that 2021 threw at the world. In this candid conversation, they walk listeners through the year;  covering podcast production, behind-the-scenes information, personal triumphs, advocacy victories, guest insight...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. In this episode of Amplified Voices, Amber and Jason sat down with autism advocate, Nick Dubin to discuss his personal experiences involving his early life, autism diagnosis and ultimately his encounter with the criminal legal system.  Nick also spoke of his desire and work towards using his personal experiences to he...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. Amber and Jason spoke with Marty and took a deep dive into Marty's life before he took actions that landed him in the criminal legal system. Marty shares the bullying and sexual assaults he endured as a young gay man and how this shaped his response to the world. You can hear him express remorse for his actions a...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. In this episode of Amplified Voices, Amber and Jason speak with Mark who authentically shares the shock, pain and sense of brokenness that he and his close relatives felt when they discovered sexual harm had occurred within their family. This incident abruptly plunged his elderly father into the criminal legal system,...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. In this episode, Jason and Amber speak with Morgan Godvin,  a freelance writer, scholar and advocate who spent time behind bars after she sold her best friend heroin and he died of an overdose . In a matter of days, Morgan found herself grappling with the death of her friend while also navigating an unrelenting justic...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. In this special episode, Amber & Jason welcome Stop Solitary CT activist and lead organizer, Barbara Fair, back to the show to discuss Governor Lamont's recent veto of SB 1059 , known as the Protect Act. The act, meant to uphold and protect the safety of individuals living and working behind bars, recently pa...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. In this episode, Jason and Amber catch up with attorney Kathy Flaherty, a fierce advocate for disability rights. During the conversation,  Kathy explores the parallels between the criminal justice and mental health systems, and explains how advocates in both spaces can work together. Kathy walks the audience through h...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. This Amplified Voices conversation with Amber & Jason follows the journey of Anderson Curtis, Senior Field Organizer for Smart Justice with the ACLU of Connecticut . Anderson shares his story, full of examples of both failure and success, as well as emphasizing the people and strategies that helped him during reco...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. Barbara Fair is a licensed clinical social worker and social justice activist with Stop Solitary Connecticut who has worked tirelessly for decades to improve prison conditions, bring awareness to the impact incarceration has on children and families, and demand accountability for state violence as it relates to police...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. Juanita shares the story of her friend, Sincere, who was sentenced to 45 years  for an incident that happened when he was 18.  Then known as Darnell, he signed an Alford plea deal for first degree murder, arson, and use of a firearm. Sincere has grown up behind bars. Juanita continues to advocate for him.  Juanita is...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. In this episode, Amber & Jason meet Carol, the mother of an intellectually disabled son and a passionate advocate for reform. She shares how her family was thrust into the world of courtrooms, plea bargains, ankle monitors and public registration after a situation that occurred in 2012. Their story is one of trage...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. Amber and Jason talk with Richard about his experience with Wall Street as part of the Wolf of Wall Street firm. In the conversation, Richard takes us on his journey from prison and all of the collateral consequences  to reentry up through his entrepreneurial efforts focused on others who have been incarcerated. He ta...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. Join Amber and Jason as they launch their second season of Amplified Voices with a guest you won't want to miss: Attorney Stefanie Mundhenk. In this episode, Stefanie talks about how her life was altered by an incident at Baylor University. Her journey takes us from Texas to Washington D.C., where she was a gradu...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. In a rare peek behind the scenes,  Amplified Voices hosts, Jason and Amber round out their first season by reflecting on how the podcast has evolved - exploring how proximity and storytelling have been able to make an impact on the many people who have participated, listened and shared the show with others.   Through...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. Join Jason and Amber for a different perspective, as they speak with Thomas Owen Baker, a veteran and former police officer who shares how his involvement in policing affected him, leading to his strong desire to convert his experiences into  something of social value . He candidly speaks about life as a law enforceme...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. Deb Martinez's brother is currently incarcerated in Connecticut. In this episode, Deb shares her experience as an advocate for her brother as well as for other incarcerated individuals and their families. She also talks about when she was the victim of a sexual assault as a teenager, an occurrence that completely...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. In this episode of Amplified Voices , Jason and Amber speak with Tiheba Bain, a mother, student, activist and advocate for formerly incarcerated women and girls. Tiheba shares her experiences: being raised by her grandmother in Brooklyn,  a difficult struggle with addiction, her time behind the walls and the long jour...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. In this episode of Amplified Voices, Amber and Jason speak with Nancy - a business owner, wife, mother, student and advocate from Iowa. Nancy authentically shares how her family was affected by addiction, incarceration, special probation conditions, mandated treatment, public registration and more. Her story particula...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. In this episode of Amplified Voices, Jason and Amber speak with Tricia, mother of four and wife of a man who was convicted of a white collar crime and subsequently incarcerated. Tricia bravely shares her experiences, including how she and her children were affected through the process, the shock of the arrest, coping...

Send us a text. Please provide contact information if you'd like a response. In this episode of Amplified Voices, Amber and Jason speak with Andrew,  a pastor from Connecticut who has been impacted by the criminal legal system, both as a family member and as the victim of a crime. Andrew speaks about how the crime and the system has affected his family, congregation, community and more. He sha...